20 



Major diameter of orbit equal to the width of the inter-orbital space and 

 much more than that of the spiracle. 



Mouth crescentic. Teeth, in the female, having a globular base and a 

 mamillary point : in twenty-four oblique rows in the upper and eighteen in the 

 lower jaw. 



The whole of the upper surface of the disk (including the ventral fins) and 

 tail, and all the surfaces of the posterior half of the tail (including the dorsal 

 and rudimentary caudal fins) are covered with small sharp close-set prickles : 

 under surface of disk smooth and glandular. 



A large spine at either angle of either orbit, and a pair of spines between 

 the spiracles : one or two on each shoulder girdle, and a single row down the 

 middle of the back from the occiput nearly to the first dorsal fin. 



Dorsal fins adjacent but separate, the posterior the larger. 

 Colour in life — uniform jet black : in spirit, dark chocolate. 



A single female specimen, 11^ inches long, from the Gulf of Manar, 597 

 fathoms. 



Regd. No. 11769. 



Apparently allied to the Mediterranean Raja atrata, M. & H. 



8. Raja JPowelli, Alcock. 



Raja Powelli, Alcock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., August, 1898, p. 145 : Illustrations of the Zoology of the 

 Investigator, Fishes, pl. XXVI. fig. 4. 



The disk without the ventral fins is nearly half the total length, and its 

 breadth is equal to its length with the ventrals : it is rhomboidal with the angles, 

 except the rostral, rounded : the anterior margin of the pectoral fin is broadly 

 sinuous. 



The snout is rather slender and much exsert : its length, measured from the 

 mouth, is two-sevenths the greatest breadth of the disk and is nearly half again 

 as much as the distance between the outer margins of the nostrils. 



Major diameter of orbit hardly equal to the width of the inter-orbital space, 

 but considerably more than that of the spiracle. 



Teeth in the female obtusely pointed or obscurely tricuspid ; in about 

 55 transverse rows in either jaw. Mouth straight. 



Both surfaces of the disk are smooth, except for some prickles near the edge 

 of the snout and the edge of the anterior half of the pectoral fins. 



Two or three spines on the anterior edge of the orbit and one near either 

 postorbital angle : three in the middle line of the nape. Two or three series 

 of spines extend from the hinder fourth of the disk to the first dorsal fin, there 



